Young Brave Hearts – CH 066

Chapter 66

Admittedly, although Lu Rangchen was somewhat roguish, he always knew how to maintain a perfect balance in relationships.

Like right now.

A little too much of what he said would seem presumptuous and disrespectful, but a little too little would lack the ruthless charm he usually displayed.

Zhu Yunque’s ears turned red from his words. She immediately went back to the bathroom and found her forgotten underwear.

A pale pink bra hung motionless on the rack, completely out of place in this rather masculine bathroom; it was practically visible the moment you entered.

Zhu Yunque quickly took it off, but as she turned, she bumped into Lu Rangchen.

The man was tall and slender, with broad shoulders and long legs, blocking her path. His masculine aura was like a dormant volcano, seemingly calm but brimming with undercurrents.

Zhu Yunque was completely blocked. Looking up, she saw Lu Rangchen with his hands in his pockets, looking at her with indifferent eyes.

He deliberately teased, “Have you found everything?”

“…”

Zhu Yunque kept a tight-lipped smile and didn’t say a word, simply pushing Lu Rangchen aside and walking away.

Her slender frame still managed to make Lu Rangchen’s shoulder sway from the impact.

Lu Rangchen silently curled his lips, his gaze following her as she left until she slammed the bedroom door shut.

Her temper was getting to be quite something.

The next time he called her was after he finished showering. The hot pot feast on the third floor was in full swing, and seeing that Lu Rangchen wasn’t coming with anyone, they kept urging him.

Only then did Lu Rangchen knock on the bedroom door and lazily call out, “Zhu Yunque, come out.”

Having learned her lesson, Zhu Yunque had put on an extra layer of clothing before opening the door. Her clean-cut face seemed rather annoyed, while Lu Rangchen, wearing a newly changed white T-shirt and trousers, looked to be in a good mood.

He leaned casually against the doorway, tilting his head towards her. “Want to go to the third floor for hot pot?”

Zhu Yunque was still suppressing her earlier awkwardness and wanted to say no, but before she could speak, her stomach growled loudly.

Lu Rangchen narrowed his eyes slightly. “Didn’t eat?”

Zhu Yunque pursed her lips and said, “Yes, I ate at the night market.”

Lu Rangchen asked naturally, “With whom?”

“With Xu Linda.”

It was a straightforward conversation, nothing special, but placed between the two of them, something felt off.

Lu Rangchen hummed in response, not giving her a chance to hesitate. He told her to change her clothes quickly, but before he could turn to leave, he stopped, glanced at her expressionlessly, and said, “There are a lot of men outside; don’t wear that.”

After saying this, he turned and left.

“…”

Zhu Yunque stood there, stunned.

For some reason, she detected a hint of displeasure in his tone.

But domineering as he was, he was right.

So Zhu Yunque finally changed into the outfit she would wear to work the next day, and as she went out, she saw Lu Rangchen waiting for her in the corridor.

He was still the same as before—lazy, casual, and unruly—but the boyishness was gone, replaced by a powerful, mature masculine energy.

Seeing Zhu Yunque emerge, he slightly raised his eyelids, said nothing, and simply turned to walk towards the stairs, his pace unhurried, as if casually accommodating her.

After descending the stairs, before even reaching the activity room, Zhu Yunque smelled the rich aroma of hot pot. The activity room was bustling with activity, with a group of boys sitting around a hot pot.

They genuinely hadn’t expected the boss to bring a woman down. The group visibly paused upon seeing Zhu Yunque, and someone blurted out, “The boss brought his wife.”

This remark immediately drew laughter from everyone.

Zhu Yunque had always been the shy type, but for some reason, their teasing didn’t bother her much; she even glanced at Lu Rangchen.

Lu Rangchen, on the other hand, was genuinely amused by their antics.

His deep, resonant voice snapped, “Are you never going to stop? If you don’t want to eat, go back.”

His words silenced everyone with a few laughs.

A quick-witted person immediately made room for the two of them.

Zhu Yunque had barely sat down next to Lu Rangchen when condiments and chopsticks were placed in front of her. The table looked messy, but to be honest, the ingredients were quite plentiful.

Lu Rangchen casually wiped the dishes for her, saying, “Eat something; it’s better than going hungry.”

He thought it was fine, but Zhu Yunque didn’t.

The boys eagerly scooped out cooked lamb, beef chuck, shrimp balls, tripe, and beef aorta, placing them in front of Zhu Yunque.

Afraid she might find it unappetizing, they even went to get a new strainer.

Each time a bowl was placed in front of her, Lu Rangchen would glance at it, his gaze as cold as if he were supervising a training session.

This continued until the third bowl was served.

Lu Rangchen clicked his tongue. “That’s enough. Are you done yet?”

Hearing this, the group chuckled and stopped.

Zhu Yunque, who had just finished her first bowl, looked up at Lu Rangchen upon hearing this.

Lu Rangchen also glanced at her. “Why are you being so formal? If you don’t want to eat, you don’t have to. Nobody’s saying anything.”

Several of those dishes were things Zhu Yunque didn’t like, but because they were given to her by those people, she still ate them.

Wiping her mouth with a tissue, Zhu Yunque said, “I can’t refuse someone’s offer.”

Lu Rangchen chuckled, “You’re quite loyal.”

As he spoke, he moved one of the bowls with shrimp paste closer to himself, picked out all the shrimp paste, and put it in his own bowl. Then he scooped out a bowl of freshly cooked cabbage and glass noodles for her, placing it specifically in front of her.

Zhu Yunque didn’t like shrimp paste; she liked cabbage.

It was a rather insignificant habit, but Lu Rangchen remembered it clearly.

Staring at the two bowls of food, Zhu Yunque gripped her chopsticks tightly, suddenly unable to speak.

Lu Rangchen didn’t expect her to speak.

He reached into his pocket, intending to take out a pack of cigarettes, but then remembered she was beside him. He licked his lips and ultimately didn’t take one out.

Just then, his phone rang.

Lu Rangchen glanced down; it seemed to be someone important. He frowned, got up, and went to answer it.

Zhu Yunque ate a few bites of food, then looked up at him.

Lu Rangchen was intently listening to the other person on the phone, but even so, his gaze still caught Zhu Yunque’s.

The two remained silently locked in eye contact until Lu Rangchen opened the door to the activity room, his deep gaze finally meeting hers.

Coming back to her senses, Zhu Yunque’s heart began to race subtly.

Now that the boss was gone, they could speak freely.

The boys quickly turned their attention to Zhu Yunque. One of them, Jiang Sui, who was closest to Lu Rangchen, mustered his courage and asked, “Beautiful lady, may I ask a question? What’s your relationship with our boss?”

It was a rather abrupt question, and no one dared to ask it.

But not asking was unbearable.

After all, it was Lu Rangchen. For so many years, no woman had appeared in his life, whether introduced by others or offering themselves up; he hadn’t taken a liking to any of them.

Then, out of the blue, Zhu Yunque appeared.

Most importantly, Jiang Sui’s cousin had previously taken a liking to Lu Rangchen and was determined to pursue him. If Zhu Yunque and Lu Rangchen really had something going on, Jiang Sui wanted to advise his cousin to give up.

As it turned out, his question was indeed necessary.

Zhu Yunque didn’t know what she was thinking at the time; without considering it, she blurted out, “Ex.”

The moment the words left her lips, the noisy activity room fell silent as if a fire had been extinguished. A group of young boys looked at each other, each one utterly dumbfounded.

Zhu Yunque looked at them as if they were Ye Tian.

She found it amusing but outwardly remained calm.

Jiang Sui was the first to recover, saying, “Damn, so you’re the one-who-dumped-our-boss ex-girlfriend.”

His tone wasn’t accusatory but rather quite subservient.

Perhaps because Deng Jiao had said something similar before, Zhu Yunque was immune, so she calmly nodded.

Another person chimed in, saying, “Why? Why did you break up with our boss? Wasn’t he good to you?”

After asking, she realized it didn’t make sense.

After all, Lu Rangchen had just been so attentive to her, spoiling her like crazy; it didn’t seem like he was treating her badly at all.

As expected, Zhu Yunque shook her head in denial, saying, “He’s very good, and very good to me. It’s me who’s been so bad.”

She spoke softly, but Lu Rangchen, who had just finished a phone call and returned to the door, still heard her.

He paused.

Lu Rangchen swallowed hard, not going any further inside.

The voices inside were clearly audible.

Jiang Sui asked her, “So what exactly happened? Why did you two break up? Are you planning to get back together?”

Zhu Yunque didn’t answer.

Another boy chimed in, “What kind of question is that? Are you a war correspondent? Asking anything? Do you believe the boss will hear you and give you a good beating?”

His Tianjin accent made everyone laugh, diverting the awkwardness.

Jiang Sui scratched his head, quite embarrassed, and smiled at Zhu Yunque, saying, “Sorry, sis, I was being presumptuous.”

Zhu Yunque gave a nonchalant smile.

Then another stubborn guy spoke up, saying, “Sis, can I ask? Who pursued whom between you and our boss? Did he pursue you?”

Frankly, this kind of question was quite harmless.

It was mainly to satisfy curiosity.

Zhu Yunque didn’t hide anything, saying, “It wouldn’t be accurate to say he pursued me.”

A vague statement.

Lu Rangchen’s eyelids drooped, and he chuckled.

He thought to himself, “How heartless!” Little did he know that Zhu Yunque’s next sentence was, “Actually, I’ve liked him for a long time.”

Her tone was completely different when she said this.

Unlike her previous flat and indifferent tone, it carried a more frank and certain air.

“…”

Lu Rangchen’s eyes suddenly dimmed, genuinely surprised by her words.

In contrast, the other boys weren’t particularly surprised.

After all, someone like Lu Rangchen was the most dazzling presence wherever he went; being secretly admired was perfectly normal for him, nothing new.

Zhu Yunque hadn’t expected that these were the people who would make her say such things.

She couldn’t explain why.

At that moment, in front of so many people, she just wanted to be impulsive and reveal all her hidden feelings.

She said, “Back in high school, I had a crush on him a long time ago. I accidentally fell asleep at the bus stop, and he woke me up so I could catch up.”

“Later, one time, unintentionally, he came to my class asking for my help, so I borrowed a hundred yuan from him.”

“But I didn’t spend that hundred yuan at all, because it was from him, and I just wanted to hide it.”

Zhu Yunque’s eyes flickered slightly. “He had no idea that the day I returned the money, I deliberately went to the pavilion to make the phone call.”

“I knew a long time ago that he and his friends often went to the pavilion to smoke.”

“Whenever I had the chance, I would go there, pretending to memorize texts, pretending to memorize vocabulary. Every time I went, I would take off my glasses and try to look as pretty as possible.”

“But from beginning to end, I only ran into him once.”

“Just that one time,” Zhu Yunque smiled and said, “I deliberately added him on WeChat, saying I wanted to return the money.”

Her words stopped abruptly. Zhu Yunque didn’t speak again but instead looked up calmly at Lu Rangchen standing in the doorway.

The man held a bag in one hand and carried her favorite peach-flavored drink from the supermarket on the first floor in the other. His gaze was direct, his high eyebrows and deep-set eyes intensely fixed on her.

Their eyes met.

Zhu Yunque’s voice trembled slightly as she spoke, “That unrequited love, since I was seventeen, has never stopped.”

“…”

“I’ve never told him even once.”

“How much I love him.”